LAOS Laser

h1. LAOS CUPS driver

{{>toc}}

This page describes the CUPS printer driver installation.

h2. How it works

The printer driver translates standard Postscript into LAOS codes.

This is done in the following steps

* Application generates a postscript file (by pressing print)

* The printer dialog shows the configuration dialog based on PPD. The user selects the appropriate settings 

* Postscript printer data captured in file, along with the selected settings

* File is received by the LaOS cups printer driver. 

* LaOS cups printer driver uses pstoedit to convert the file into LaOS [SimpleCode]

* LaOS cups printer driver transfers the file to the laser cutter using the TFTP protocol

h2. OS Support

The goal is to write platform-independent printer driver, based on CUPS.

Our test environment is Linux. However: it should be possible to compile the driver on Windows or Mac. Another option is to work from a Windows or MAC workstation and send the data to the CUPS printer on a Linux system. (the cups driver for windows could help: http://www.cups.org/articles.php?L376 ). The PPD file can be used on Windows and Mac. 

The backend conversion (pstoedit) is also usable as a stand-alone program, and sending the files to the actual printer can be done with a standard TFTP program.

h2. Installation

h3. Linux

This is how you install the driver on Linux.

Tested on:

* Debian Squeeze

* Ubuntu 10.10, 11.04, 11.10, 12.04 LTS

Please add your distro or let us know problems you encounter!

*Downloading software*

Before installing the CUPS driver, install [[pstoedit with laos support]].

Get Debian/Ubuntu packages needed:

    apt-get install bison flex tftp-hpa

From SVN download the cups-laos:

    svn co https://tuxic.nl/laos/cups-laos

Some svn programs will complain if they don't know the CA, (ssl error), in that case, add this line to the file ~/.subversion/servers:

    ssl-trust-default-ca = no

Installing the cups driver:

    cd (where-ever you installed)/cups-laos/src

make

sudo make install

(if make fails, rename or copy one of the personal makefiles in that folder and call it 'Makefile')

Now it's time to install the laser cutter using your CUPS printer interface. 

* On Debian, go to System -> Administration -> Printing 

** Choose: Add Printer (the arrow next to add)

** Choose: Devices: Generic CUPS-LAOS Printer

** Change the device URI to match your device IP and PORT, as configured in the firmware of the laser. For the SUDA laser, it's: 

 cups-laos://192.168.13.111:69/minimal

** Choose a name for your laser and press apply

** You might need to select the PPD (Postscript Printer Description). It's located in cups-laos/src-tftp/

** Do NOT print a test page!!!

** Now you can right-click on the new printer and go to '''Printer Options''' to adapt the defaults for your laser.

h3. Windows

Installing the CUPS driver on Windows.

Tested on Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit

*Downloading software*

Download the cups-windows files from SVN: https://tuxic.nl/laos/cups-windows/

*Installing the 'printer'*

* On Windows 7, go to 'Start' -> Control Panel -> Devices and Printers

** Click Add Printer (or right click then Add Printer)

** Add a local printer

** Create a new port - Standard TC/IP Port

** Stick in the IP address (and port - ie. 192.168.1.2:69)

** Give the port a name (LAOS [ip address] or something maybe)

** Untick 'Query the printer and automatically select the driver to use'

** Click Next and wait for Windows to try and detect the device.

** Select Generic Network Card and click Next

** Select 'Have Disk' and browse to the .inf file from the files you just downloaded.

** Click Next and ignore/accept any warnings.

** Give your laser cutter (printer) a name.

** Share the printer if you want to, set it as default if you want to but DO NOT print a test page.

** Default preferences can be selected under Printer Preferences - Preferences - Advanced.